Indianapolis: Steph’s Saturday thoughts

Relative to yesterday, today was fairly low-key, which was nice because tomorrow is bound to be anything but!

I arrived at the Speedway shortly after 9 AM, just in time to check out the turnout for the autograph sessions for the field and the former winners. Logistically, it makes sense that these had to take place at the same time since many of the former winners needed to act in an official capacity for INDYCAR at various other points during the day. But it was a real shame from a fan perspective since it meant that people needed to be extremely selective about which autographs to go after — there was no chance of anyone getting through any one line within the hour that was allotted. Regardless, every line filled to the point that it closed and the Pagoda Plaza was wall-to-wall packed with people, but things played out in an orderly fashion.

The fact that Tony Kanaan is a very fan-friendly driver is no secret, but it’s worth mentioning that I happened to be in the right place at the right time to see that in action today. When the field autograph session ended and the other drivers got up and walked away, TK kept frantically signing hero cards for fans until he was peeled away from the table by his PR staff. One doesn’t have to look very far to find why TK is such a fan favorite.

At the west end of the Pagoda Plaza, there was a car on display called The Stinger. It was painted up like the Marmon Wasp and had spaces reserved on it for autographs from all of the living drivers who have raced in the 500. The car is slated to do a media tour, after which it will be auctioned off and the proceeds of the sale will go to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee as part of the Window World Cares program. The car should raise a pretty penny for that very good cause – it looked extremely cool even early this morning before many drivers had gotten to it!

After the autograph sessions wrapped up, there was quite a bit of mayhem as the photo featuring all of the living drivers in attendance was organized. I snapped a couple of quick photos for Twitter before being (quite correctly) shuffled out of the way to make room for the legitimate photographers. There were plenty of them, so there ought to be quite a few versions of this photo floating around!

Following that, the public drivers’ meeting took place. This was my first time attending it, and I thought it was great. It was clear that the event is an integral part of the pomp and tradition surrounding Indianapolis. Notably, Brian Barnhart was unwell today, so Al Unser, Jr. filled in for him. Al was reading Brian’s instructions off of a sheet of paper, and his delivery was somewhat stunted at times. Rather than try to pretend he wasn’t reading, Al just went with it and tossed in some self-deprecating humor to keep things light. It worked very well, and the crowd seemed to enjoy his delivery a great deal.

I wasn’t privy to the inner workings of the meeting from my vantage point high in Tower Terrace (another rookie mistake), so I kept an eye on the crowd to see how they were reacting to various elements of the program. Ryan Hunter-Reay was politely applauded when introduced for his 33rd starting position — it remains to be seen whether he’ll garner a similar reaction tomorrow. Danica was the only driver who was booed. Many drivers received very enthusiastic cheers, but from my perspective the strongest ones went to Simona, TK, John Andretti, Helio, and Tag. Enthusiastic cheers also went up for the announcements that the field will keep formation in 11 rows of 3 for all three parade and pace laps and that INDYCAR will go ahead with double-file restarts at Indianapolis.

The largest autograph session was set to begin at noon but was somewhat delayed, though that didn’t deter the crowd. The line-up went from the entrance door on the north end of the Pagoda Plaza all the way to the south end, turned east and went about half the width of the Plaza, then snaked around back to the north about five or six times. It would have been a wonder if all of the people waiting were able to make it through. I didn’t get to have a close look at this one, unfortunately, as access was highly restricted. I’d be interested in hearing from those who waited in line to find out how things went.

My last activity of the day was to finally make it out to the Camp and Brew. This is an event organized by a great group of very dedicated INDYCAR fans. There’s little point in writing about it a great deal since this will be its last year, but it was great to put some faces to some names and get a look at the amount of money being raised in support of Brian’s Wish, a charity that seeks to find a cure to Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The day has finally arrived — tomorrow, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. I hope the enormity of what I’m witnessing sinks in! Be sure to keep an eye on Twitter (@99forever, @Fieldof33, and @MoreFrontWing) for updates and watch MoreFrontWing.com for our daily observations.